Themes and message

The main theme of the short story is friendship, conveyed through the characters of Raglan and Jeremy. Another important theme in the story is the consequences of poverty, illustrated through the setting and plot.

Jess Mowry raises awareness with regards to the struggles of street children and people, which society tends to discard or ignore. His message is that those ignored by society are still people in their own right and can often be beautiful, kind, or sensitive, just like everyone else.

Friendship

The theme of friendship is explored through the two characters in the short story, Raglan and Jeremy. First, the theme is suggested through the title of the short story, “Crusader Rabbit”, a cartoon in which the main characters are two unlikely friends, a rabbit and a tiger. Just like in the cartoon, Raglan and Jeremy are also two unlikely friends because Jeremy is only 13 years old and Raglan is “twice his age” (l. 27). However, the two characters are joined by shared circumstances, as they both live on the streets. The characters also have drug problems in common, as Raglan used to take drugs in the past as Jeremy does now (l...